To some of us the 1990s still seem too recent to be a source of nostalgia.  But in broadcasting terms it marked a memorable moment - the rise of the comedy panel show.

Panel shows of one kind or another had been around since the 1930s with and similar shows, and had a huge upsurge in the 1950s with the like of leading to a horde of similar formats. 

However, while these often had witty panellists - even comedy heavyweights like writers Frank Muir and Denis Norden – there was no vehicle designed for laughs. It took the advent of , devised by and starring Jimmy Edwards, a kind of comedy Any Questions?, which ran from 1957 to 1976 with a revival in 2007, to plug that gap, but it was hardly cutting edge stuff.

Though panel shows did carry on through the decades as staple radio and television fare, either featuring celebrities, as in , or the public, like , the nearest thing to a show where the comedy was more than incidental was ITV’s Joker’s Wild, which involved competitive joke-telling, hosted by Barry Cryer.

Game shows became a dominant television format during the 1980s, but there was also a strong trend towards satirical comedy with programmes such as and Spitting Image.  Simultaneously the burgeoning alternative comedy circuit was in full swing, with , Saturday Night Live and the Comic Strip all debuting in that decade. 

Elements of these shows combined in the sitcom /Blackadder, which spanned the 80s through its four series and a Christmas special.  In charge of Blackadder was John Lloyd, who had started as a Ö÷²¥´óÐã radio producer after leaving university in 1974.  He also devised the radio series , based on an idea by Nicholas Parsons, and first broadcast on Radio 4 in 1977 – it’s still going strong today.

The News Quiz had comedians, humourists and journalists among others answer questions on the week’s events in a comic but increasingly satirical way, with additional snippets such as amusing quotes from newspapers.  The original host was Barry Norman, though later series have been fronted by Simon Hoggart, Barry Took, Sandi Toksvig, and Miles Jupp.

A television version of this was mooted by independent company Hat Trick, to be hosted by Lloyd, and a pilot was recorded in June 1990, under the title John Lloyd’s Newsround.  Private Eye editor and comedy writer Ian Hislop and up-and-coming comedian Paul Merton were appointed team captains, each accompanied by a guest.  The pilot was felt to work, with reservations – Lloyd felt uncomfortable hosting it, while there were awkward junctures in the show as panellists tried to work out what the questions were about.

It was decided that the revised 1990s show – which would be renamed – would give the contestants foreknowledge of the questions (but not of course the answers) to speed things up.  The other change would be the host, as comic actor Angus Deayton was brought in to replace Lloyd.

First broadcast on Ö÷²¥´óÐã2 on 28 September 1990, the show was immediately successful, becoming first a cult, then a mainstream hit.  Deayton’s sardonic delivery worked well with the surreal comedy of Merton, and Hislop’s waspish, journalistic approach.

In more than 50 series in the last 26 years, Have I Got News for You has carved out its own place in television history.  While no longer the must-see television of the 90s, perhaps due to the profusion of similar formats, it is still a recognisably unique take on current affairs.  It has not been without its controversies, with a taste for pushing the boundaries of what is legally allowable – it does not have the catchphrase ‘allegedly’, to (hopefully) defer libel suits, for nothing.

The show has become part of the political landscape, taking some credit for the inexorable rise of .  It also demolished any chance of Roy Hattersley being taken seriously again, when it replaced him with a tub of lard, when he pulled out of appearing on the show for the third time in succession. Other celebrities have been able to hang themselves out to dry just by being themselves, though occasionally they have been lambasted by fellow panellists.

Perhaps the most prominent casualty of the show was its own original presenter.  After repeated tabloid scandals in the early 2000s, Angus Deayton was sacked, since he had become the kind of person the show would satirise, rather than being able to satirise others.  Since then, the show has continued with constantly changing guest hosts, which has refreshed the format, and revived a few careers along the way.

HIGNFY was the standard bearer for a plethora of comedy panel shows emerging in the following decades.  One of the first to follow in its wake was , originally on Radio 5 from 1992, which migrated to television in 1995.

The radio host of They Think It’s All Over was Desmond Lynam, and its team captains were Rory Bremner and Rory McGrath.  Only McGrath continued onto television, where he was joined by team captains Gary Lineker and David Gower, comedian Lee Hurst, and two other guests on each show.  The new host was comedian Nick Hancock, already known from comedy chat show .

Far more than HIGNFY, They Think It’s All Over was seen to be part of the ‘lad culture’ of the 1990s, although not the most extreme example by far.  It was pitched as a kind of alternative version of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s venerable , which now seems to have taken on some of the attributes of its more edgy cousin – including sometime regular panellist Phil Tufnell.  The regular panellists once or twice during its 10-year run, and the final series was hosted by Lee Mack.

With news and sport catered for, it was time for music to be the subject of a panel show, when premiered in 1996.  Lasting for nearly two decades, it was originally fronted by Mark Lamarr with team captains Phill Jupitus and Sean Hughes, the latter being replaced by Bill Bailey and then Noel Fielding.  Simon Amstell eventually took over from Lamarr, then a succession of guest hosts stood in until Rhod Gilbert presided over the final series. 

While it was a celebration of musical knowledge (like the 1980s ), Buzzcocks had a more counter-cultural sensibility, influenced by the new waves of comedy emerging at the time, and embraced the ridiculousness of the music scene – to the discomfiture of some of the more sensitive guests, who walked out of the recording session on the odd occasion.

Another, more obviously comic variation on the panel show was the surreal and anarchic , which in truth was a comedy show in the guise of a panel show, satirising the genre.  Hosted by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, it followed their cult success in Big Night Out on Channel 4, but was originally part of theme night . 

Mark Lamarr also appeared in the early series as a team captain, with Ulrika Jonnson leading the other team.  The show was also responsible for introducing Matt Lucas to a wide audience, in the guise of ‘baby’ George Daws, who acted as scorer.

The 21st century has seen a plethora of new comedy panel shows spring up, with radio keen to use the genre as television, if not more so. On TV, , which started in 2005, and Would I Lie to You, from 2007 (and originally hosted by Angus Deayton), have become fixtures in the schedules.

Mock the Week more of a showcase for comedians, but has been the target of criticism for its latter day lad culture tropes, with a marked lack of women guests. This recently gave rise to a new  that there should be no more men-only panel shows, although some comedians have criticised the danger of tokenism this raises.

Another popular show that began in the early 2000s was , again created by John Lloyd.  It was presented for its first 13 series by Stephen Fry, although he was originally intended to be the regular team captain of one side, with Alan Davies as his opposite number – roughly speaking the ‘intellectual’ and ‘university of life’ sides.  Michael Palin had been asked to be the host, but pulled out at the last moment, so Fry stepped in, and the format became less structured as a result.  Sandi Toksvig is to take over the chair when the show returns.

As with Have I Got News for You, the show began on Ö÷²¥´óÐã2 and gained an increasing following, ending up with its transfer to Ö÷²¥´óÐã1 – though it has now returned to the calmer waters of Ö÷²¥´óÐã2. As with other shows, the success of the comedy panel show has been bolstered by the extended version , using some of the material created over long recording sessions. 

It soon became apparent that the scoring system meant very little on any of these kinds of shows, since all the rounds would not necessarily be televised, and who ‘won’ was of far less importance than the entertainment value.

It might seem an odd fact that with one or two notable exceptions, such as Channel 4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats, it is only the Ö÷²¥´óÐã that has really succeeded in nurturing shows in the comedy panel genre, although they are generally productions made by independent companies. 

Perhaps the ‘cult’ nature of many of these shows is the reason for that, though it’s notable too that the commercial channel Dave provides an afterlife for many of these series, which has become a regular joke on the programmes in question.

It seems likely that the comedy panel show genre will be with us for some time to come. They are a forum for new and established comics and celebrities to show off their talents. And they’re also quite cheap television, which has to be a good thing in the age of austerity.

Share your thoughts on the rise of the comedy panel show with us…  What are your favourites, and tell us about some of the shows we haven’t mentioned. Or do you feel there are too many and their time is up?

One of the most important craft skills in television is that of the designer – now usually called the production designer. 

He or she is responsible primarily for the sets of a programme (and ‘settings’ is how they are credited in many early programmes), but in a more general sense, for making the 'world' of a programme, whether fictional or factual, into something that can be realised in a studio or on location.

Television has been described - especially in its early, live, days - as a hybrid of radio, theatre and film.  Its immediacy and reach was similar to radio; it had film’s property of presenting a story in pictures with the ability to cut from one image to another.   It mirrored theatre in that only certain effects could be achieved physically because of  limited space, and because the action had to be mounted continuously in real time, even if it was discontinuous in the play.

Increasingly sophisticated visual effects  such as CGI and green-screen, have become a common element in many modern productions, enabling scenes that need impossibly large casts, sets, or fantastic landscapes to be realised.  Though technicians are a vital part of creating such effects, they would not be effective without the skills of designers.  Lighting and camerawork of course play a vital central role in realising the visuals of a programme, and cannot be ignored as part of the design equation – but that is a topic for another time...

The origins of television design

The very earliest television, low-definition broadcasts by the Baird company from 1929, had very limited design elements because of the nature of the technology.  30-line images were so poor that the constant problem was to create any kind of meaningful image, so anything other than a plain backcloth would probably have been more of a hindrance.  Early television did however use a chequerboard pattern flooring which gave a basic sense of perspective.  

A new world was opened up by high definition television in 1936.  At first artists often performed in front of curtains, behind which successive acts could be in waiting, but soon the desire for more complex scenery arose, particularly for drama.  Early scenery was crude, partly because even with a higher line standard, pictures were not very sharp, and still in black and white, they were seen at home on tiny screens.  But there were was an increasing sophistication of design, with pioneers like Peter Bax responding to the rapid rise in the ambition and complexity of productions. 

Plays like the modern dress Julius Caesar, , gangster drama Smoky Cell, or , showed the range of productions attempted.  There were also shorter productions like the romantic comedy Ann and Harold and the series of ‘whodunnits’ called Telecrimes, the design for which made the most of limited resources.  One of the more adventurous techniques was the ‘penumbrascope’, which used impressionistic shadows to create moods quickly and economically.

With the seven year hiatus caused by World War Two, television hardly developed until the 1950s, but there was a new influx of talent after the war, and increasingly sophisticated technology.  Better cameras, the spread of television beyond London, and the beginnings of recording technology all added to the excitement around the medium.  Design started to become more important, whether Hollywood-influenced variety settings, or increasingly realistic backdrops for dramas.  With more programmes, designers had to be found from a range of disciplines, rather than just theatre design or cinema art direction.

The Quatermass Experience

The existing early recordings of programmes give us a chance to see how settings worked within programmes, rather than relying on still photographs for evidence as we have to do with earlier broadcasts. 

One of the earliest existing shows is (designer Stewart Marshall), Nigel Kneale’s ground-breaking science fiction horror story from 1953. From the two surviving episodes it can be seen that ambitious sets like the wreckage of a house destroyed by a crashing rocket were possible.  Later episodes featured the story’s climax in Westminster Abbey, which used a mixture of studio sets and photo blow-ups.

The following year Kneale adapted George Orwell’s (Barry Learoyd) in a memorable and historic version, which had highly effective design elements – from scene-setting paintings of ruined London, to the contrasting technological sheen of the Ministry of Truth and the shabby houses of the ‘proles’. 

The Quatermass series are a useful way of studying the developments of television through the 50s, with series made in 1953, 1955 and 1958 demonstrating changes in acting style, production and design.  The 1955 series (Stephen Taylor) already has a faster pace, and more ambitious sets, making the most of the space available at Lime Grove studios. 

While some of its more memorable sequences are achieved using the increased amount of filming available, the studio sets show how effectively a story can be told by creating a series of different places that set contrasting scenes – from an Army radar truck, to laboratories and control rooms, cafes to committee rooms in the Houses of Parliament.

The final Ö÷²¥´óÐã Quatermass series, (Clifford Hatts), showed how programmes could be opened out even more.  By this time the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s own film studios at Ealing were fully functioning, and the main location, the ‘Pit’, an excavation site in London’s Knightsbridge containing a crashed Martian spaceship, was effectively realised both at Ealing and in the Ö÷²¥´óÐã’s Riverside Studios. 

Television Centre meanwhile, as a purpose built programme factory, did make life easier for designers in realising their visions.  With dedicated workshops for constructing and painting scenery, linked to the studios by access roads, many of the problems associated with other venues were overcome.  There is a story that the original police box prop built for Doctor Who in 1963 had to be reduced in size because it could not be fitted into the scenery lift at Lime Grove, an idiosyncratic building at best.

Outside the sphere of drama and comedy, sets are still important to create the mood and house the action of shows from variety to politics and current affairs, chat shows to children’s factual programmes.

A Whole Scene Going

In these cases the design edict that form follows function is king:  Blue Peter needed a large, empty studio to accommodate gymnastic displays, large vehicles, pop bands, and at Christmas, hordes of schoolchildren and the – but the presenters were usually to be found firstly on the iconic seating unit in the centre of the studio, the focal point of each episode. 

In discussion shows, the designer needs to consider where to position the chairperson and the guests, and sometimes there is an audience too, as with .  Likewise the modern proliferation of panel shows such as has seen their set designs become more inventive as while retaining a common layout of panellists and compere.  Chat shows tend to have a more relaxed version of the same layout.

Another vital aspect of design is the technical one of where the camera and sound crews can be placed so they can actually record the programme.  With audience shows, whether chat shows or sitcoms, the audience should be able to see the action going on, though inevitably some sequences will only be visible on studio monitors.

Oh in Colour

When colour made its entrance in the late 1960s, there needed to be a rethink on the part of all designers.  Although it had been in development since the 50s, the technology turned out to be over-sensitive to certain shades, and it took much trial and error before realistic-looking  colours were achieved.  The start of Ö÷²¥´óÐã2 in 1964 had also meant recruiting extra design staff, and new ideas were imported along with them, which saw fruition in the brave new world of colour.

As years have gone on, other technological challenges have faced designers – from better cameras, subtler lighting, to widescreen and high definition, with the latter potentially only increasing in sharpness.  The decline of film and its replacement with ‘filmised’ videotape production has no doubt also had subtle effects on design effort, although the ease with which videotaped images can be replayed makes life easier for the designer as well as the director in allowing them to quickly see how their work looks, and how it could be improved.

As long as television is made there will be a place for the designer.  While many programmes can be made now in ‘real’ locations, there is still a certain amount of artifice needed for the particular needs of productions.

Much of television is still made in studio conditions, and it’s a rare programme that needs no setting at all, or just the minimal curtain that sufficed back in the early 1930s.  Every show has its unique challenges, and in the final analysis it is the experience and skill of the designer that has to solve them.

What are your favourite iconic settings for programmes?  Share your thoughts on the importance of television design in the box below...